A FLASH mob took Kendal Town Centre shoppers by storm when an impromptu dance caused dozens of locals and visitors to stand and stare.

Around 35 students from Kendal College took part in the dance, reminiscent of the famous T-Mobile King’s Cross train station advert.

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, and then disperse.

And organiser Brad Davies, 19, has promised unsuspecting people in Kendal Town Centre that another flash mob could be on the cards in the not-too-distant future.

“It went so much better than I was expecting,” said Brad.

“When I woke up I thought ‘This isn’t going to happen’ but when it came off it was unbelievable.”

The students danced to The Arctic Monkeys’ Dancing Shoes.

He organised the flash mob as part of an art project to show people that young adults were not all about rioting and anti-social behaviour.

“The reason I did this is because a lot of people look down on students because of the riots and I want that to change. I wanted to show the world what creative and strong minded students can do.”

Brad’s art teacher Barry Willis said: “We thought it was a really refreshing idea. Brad spent about six months organising it with the council, the police etc so I’d like to congratulate him on it.”

One of the first flash mobs took place in 2003 in Manhattan, organised by the editor of Harper’s magazine Bill Wasik. The first attempt was unsuccessful but the second took place at Macy’s in June 2003, where 130 people converged on the ninth floor and gathered round an expensive rug which they called the ‘love rug’.

Two of the biggest flash mobs to have taken place were a silent disco in the London Underground in April 2006, where thousands of people set their portable music playing devices to the same song, and Worldwide Pillow Fight Day, which took place in more than 25 cities across the globe.